Vesnina knocks out 2nd-seed Kerber at New Haven Open

Published 5:07 pm, Tuesday, August 20, 2013

NEW HAVEN -- With two tournament titles and a doubles championship at the French Open, this year has already been quite good to Elena Vesnina.

Those good vibes seem to have followed here to New Haven Open at Yale where she knocked out second-seed Angelique Kerber in straight sets 6-2 6-4 Tuesday afternoon to open play on Stadium Court.

"Maybe it's just my time to play good," said Vesnina, who advances to play Klara Zakopalova, a 6-4 6-1 winner over Monica Puig, in the quarterfinals.

The 27-year-old Ukraine native, who turned pro in 2002 and had never captured a singles match prior to this year, won three straight games to open her match with Kerber, who is ranked 10th in the WTA. Vesnina, who lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the 2009 final at Yale, kept on charging from there.

"For me it was an important match to beat a top 10 player," Vesnina said. "It was important to play my game, take my chances ¦ be aggressive and just go for it." Even though the sparse afternoon crowd seemed to favor Kerber, it didn't help inspire the German.

"I was not feeling good today," Kerber said. "She played good, but I couldn't find my rhythm. At the end I was just trying to fight."

When pressed on what was wrong Kerber did not go into specifics, but noted "physically, I'm fine and I'm happy." After falling in the first set, Kerber led 2-1 and 3-2 in the second, but then dropped three straight to swing momentum back to Vesnina.

"Sometimes you have days like this, but I can just try to take the positives from the match and start focusing on the next tournament," she said.

After a short week at Yale, Kerber will turn her attention to getting ready for the U.S. Open, where she will open as the No. 9 seed next week in New York.

"Next week is a big tournament," Kerber said. "I will try to go tomorrow on the court and work hard and try to improve my game more. I will try to take my rhythm back, just hit the balls and not think too much." Vesnina will head to New York when she finishes here as the 23rd seed, but she's in no hurry to leave. Vesnina has already won the Moorilla Hobart International (her first career title) and the Aegon International.

"I feel really good in this tournament," she said. "The atmosphere, courts, it's just (good). For some players they come in to the tournament and they feel like it's there place. For me, it's been that."